Philip Hodgins
Philip Ian Hodgins (28 January 1959 - 18 August 1995) was a prize-winning Australian poet whose work appeared in such major publications as The New Yorker. Philip Hodgins, 'At the Sheep-Parasite Field Day', The New Yorker, January 17, 1994. p.62. Peter Rose called him 'probably the most loved Australian poet of his generation', noting that 'his admirers ranged from... Alan Hollinghurst to Ron Barassi and Peter Porter to Les Murray'.Peter Rose, 'Only One Numero Uno'. Sydney Morning Herald, November 25, 2000. p.13. Clive James ventured that 'if he had lived as long as his admired Goethe, he would probably have been Goethe'.Clive James, 'The Meaning of Recognition'. Australian Book Review, September 2003. Life Hodgins was born in Shepparton, Victoria, in 1959, and spent his childhood on his parents' dairy farm at nearby Katandra West. He went to school in Geelong and later moved to Melbourne, where he worked for several years with a publishing house, before moving to Maryborough in central Victoria. Hodgins' experience of farm life is strongly present through much of his poetry. His verse novella Dispossessed describes the last weeks of a poor rural family about to be evicted from their farm. Hodgins also wrote about Australian Rules football. In November 1983 Hodgins was admitted to hospital and diagnosed as having chronic myeloid leukaemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. His experiences as a leukaemia patient form the subject of much of his later work. In 1990, Hodgins married the writer, Janet Shaw, with whom he had two children, Anna and Helen. He was a co-founder of the Mildura Writers' Festival in 1994. Hodgins died in Maryborough on 18 August 1995. His papers, writing and correspondence are held in Australian Defence Force Academy Library in Canberra. A photograph of Philip Hodgins by A. T. Bolton (1926–1996) is in the National Library of Australia online collection: Portrait of Philip Recognition Awards won by Hodgins include the Wesley Michael Wright Prize for Poetry, the Bicentennial Poetry Book Award, the New South Wales Premier's Award, the Grace Leven Prize, and the National Book Council Poetry Prize.Philip Hodgins author's page, Duffy & Snellgrove, Web, Mar. 10, 2010. He is commemorated by the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal, awarded annually since 1996 "to an Australian writer whose work best reflects the high standards and distinguished literary accomplishments that Philip consistently advocated and exemplified in his poetry."Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal, ArtsHub, June 7, 2010, Web, Mar. 10, 2012. Awards * 1986 - Wesley Michael Wright Prize for Poetry * Bicentennial Poetry Book Award * 1987 - New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry for Blood and Bone * 1988 - Grace Perry Memorial Award * 1993 - Grace Leven Prize for Poetry for The End of the Season * National Book Council Poetry Prize * Prairie Schooner Readers Choice USA Award * 1996 - National Book Council Turnbull Fox Phillips Poetry Prize Publications * Blood and Bone. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1986. * Poetry Australia. Sydney: ABC Books, 1988. * Animal Warmth. North Ryde, NSW: Angus & Robertson, 1990. * Up on All Fours. Pymble, NSW: Angus & Robertson, 1993. * The End of the Season: Pastoral poems. Canberra: Brindabella Press, 1993. * Dispossessed: A Tale of modern rural Australia. Pymble, NSW: Angus & Robertson, 1994. * Things Happen. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1995. * Selected Poems. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1997. * New Selected Poems. Sydney: Duffy & Snellgrove, 2000. Exceptwhere noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Australian Poetry Library.Philip Hodgins (1959–1995), Australian Poetry Library, Web, Mar. 10, 2012. See also * List of Australian poets References * Hodgins, Philip Austlit Agent (Retrieved 5 August 2007) * Papers of Philip Hodgins Academy Library, UNSW@ADFA (Retrieved 5 August 2007) Notes External links ;Poems * Philip Hodgins (1959–1995) in the Australian Poetry Library (505 poems). ;Audio / video *Philip Hodgins at YouTube ;About * Philip Hodgins in the Oxford Companion to Australian Literature. *Philip Hodgins at AustLit *"The Meaning of Recognition", by Clive James Category:1959 births Category:1995 deaths Category:Australian poets Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets Category:English-language poets